The Rick & Bubba Bible Study LIVE - Jan. 20, 2021

four three two welcome in to the wednesday bible study thank you for joining us today uh my name is rick burgess in case this is your first time to be with us uh co-host of the rick and bubba show and director of themanchurch.com uh and thanking you for being with us today we are studying a brand new series today uh we're we're in uh part five of a new series this is from the book by j.i packer called knowing god and really the premise that j.i packer is unpacking is that we must be very careful that our pursuit of knowledge concerning god is not the wrong pursuit it can't just be to know about god uh scripturally it should be to know god and we've talked about that quite that god desires that we know him he has not hid himself from us uh and this is you know one of one of the biggest you know assets we've been given uh and the the biggest tools that we've been given to use to know god is his revelation about himself in the holy word of god uh and so as we've said in the wednesday bible study my wife and i were talking about this last night um you know always be leery of any bible study that doesn't feature the bible and i was telling her that we talked about that for years here in this wednesday bible study so we will dive into the word of god today a couple of announcements themanchurch.com we're getting ever closer uh to launching uh the new curriculum for this year there'll be another 40-week curriculum coming out based on the based on eight men of the bible our first curriculum is the pursuit of christ-centered masculinity uh there's a 11213 churches that are doing it in some way shape or form and they're all at different places some have completed it some are almost finished some are just getting started but there'll be a new curriculum coming out from the manchurch.com which is a resource to implement men's ministry in your church or in your community we're here to provide those resources for you uh to provide teachers and speakers for you whatever you may need uh to have a uh you know never-ending ongoing productive men's ministry strategy we're always here to help we'll be out helping uh tomorrow night if you're watching this uh and you're watching it or listening to it the day that actually took place which is um on wednesday and i'm trying to remember what the date is today the 20th right today's the 20th so if you're listening or watching on the 20th uh the 21st i'll be in leeds alabama at first baptist church leaves for a men's gathering and they'll be plugging men into small groups i'll go to americas georgia on friday with johnny hunt men's steak dinner and again we'll be uh trying to challenge those men looking forward to being with johnny but you can go to burgessministries.com and because of some of the coveted restrictions or some of the spacing you may see some of the dates coming on then going away we've had some that have canceled and moved it to next year uh new dates that are coming up so if you want to know where we are going to be if we're going to be near you and your community then go to burgessministries.com and check the upcoming events and you can find everything that you need also if you need a resource we have a brand new resource that just came out in our how to be a man series these are those 40 day devotionals for individual men or if you want to use it with your children or get a group together to walk through our 40-day devotionals you can we have a number of those resources available at themanchurch.com our new one in the how to be a man series i was fortunate enough to be invited to to write some of it along with seven other uh of the uh the the men who write our curriculum and write our study guides all joined together each one of us took five days on the topic of discipleship uh what what does it mean to be a disciple what does that look like what is discipleship and this is a 40-day devotional that takes on the different aspects of discipleship five days on each of those eight aspects so we'll open in a word of prayer and you can get that by the way by going to manchurch.com let's jump into a word of prayer and get started lord jesus we thank you for today help us in this pursuit that that j.i packer inspired by you called us to notice in scripture that you have said clearly that it is your desire that we know you not just know about you but to know you help our pursuit to know more about your holy word not to be to have the right and not not just to have the right answers to questions but to truly know you and lord today we we just pursue you with all we have in the name of jesus we pray amen so let's uh let's take a chapter five in the book of j.i packer uh it's called god god incarnate and i will tell you that this um when i dove into this and i don't know that we can get through all of it in an hour today we may be able to uh if not i'll i'll find a good stopping point and we'll finish session five next week because this is a pretty deep topic uh and it's talking about that we have to understand if we understand the gospel and i i was i have been a person who concentrates mainly on the resurrection uh you know we paul even said we're to be pitied above everyone if the resurrection didn't happen and but but there's all kinds of people that say well someone could not raise themselves from the dead now we believe there's a ton of evidence out there that shows that that this this person jesus of nazareth uh was crucified uh by the romans uh and uh and there were over 500 people who said they saw him after the resurrection including uh you know the the men who were with him uh who were inspired to write down the things that they saw but there's aspects of the gospel that people question all the time and what j.i packer takes on in in this session 5 or chapter 5 uh he says how can the death of jesus of nazareth on a roman cross put away the sins of the world how can this have any bearing even on our sins of today if this happened you know what about the resurrection what about the virgin birth and there are people that say none of these things ever happen so he starts out in chapter five by saying it's no wonder that thoughtful people find the gospel of jesus christ hard to believe for the realities in which it deals past our understanding but it's sad that so many make faith harder than it needs to be by finding difficulties in the wrong places and we just named them they want to find difficulty in the resurrection they want to find difficulty uh in the gospel miracles they want to find difficulty in the virgin birth and but as as as j.i packer which kind of blew my mind it he almost tells us in this chapter you're overthinking it you're overthinking it you need to come on back to what we celebrate on christmas because if you get christmas right the rest of it isn't any big deal if god truly became a man and the person of jesus was 100 man but more importantly 100 god then miracles are no big deal a resurrection is no big deal and a virgin birth is no big deal you you got to start as that is the that at the foundation and then the other things are not so hard to grasp at all uh and and you know the i mean we even have you realize this thomas jefferson had he could not get past the miracles of the bible so he he does a version of the bible he takes the miracles out see and that's the problem if you don't if you don't put the 100 god part 100 god 100 man if we don't get that right uh then then how about jesus isn't he isn't the debt that needed to be paid for our sin you know it talks about that that jesus became the full amount that was due well he's not the full amount that's due if he's if he's not 100 god and 100 man so be careful of any of these so-called religions or even i think for some of us when we see another religion we think okay we understand that y'all think jesus was just a man or a good teacher or maybe even a prophet but where it gets a little dicey is when you get into these forms of of that claim they're christianity but they're just another denomination but they got problems with this too of god incarnate anybody that starts messing with that you got problems and we know jehovah witnesses mess with that mormons have some theology that's tricky when it comes to the deity of jesus christ and you've got to be very very careful of those things because if you he's not lesser a lesser god you know trying to understand the trinity i know can be complicated but we can never get to the point that because god became a man uh and and used the son the father son the holy spirit that the second person of the triune god goes now to take on human flesh don't don't you let yourself think that means that he became lesser to the father because scripture totally goes against that so none of this really uh that none of the issues with this uh you know lie with what these people are saying it really lies on the claim that jesus of nazareth was god made a man the second person of the god uh head became remember like paul talks to it to the church at corinth write down this first corinthians 15 47 you see that that paul refers to jesus as the second man now be careful because that's what he's talking about here our problem started with the first man that was ever made adam so we had a real issue because adam allowed sin to come in to his marriage he allowed sin to come into the garden he decided along with his wife that they would not obey the very few things that god said not to do of course we know that and they did it so then we have a fall of mankind so now the first man that was ever made is not our example so what we needed was a second man who would now be the perfect man that says first of all i'm going to come to redeem the problems caused by the first man but i'm also going to take on human flesh and i'm going to allow myself to experience what it's like to be a human being while still being 100 god so now our focus is on the second man as he said to the church at corinth or the new adam is another uh way that we describe jesus who's now the perfect example of how to be a man themanchurch.com our whole concept with the curriculums that we the first ones that we put out is if everybody's out here trying to tell you how to be a man the only place you can look that is that is that's flawless is when god became one but he did not cease to be god even though he became man this is all very important the god man and what did we say you can go back to through burgess ministries.com if you click on listen you can go through all of the bible studies that we have ever recorded over the last five six years in here and you'll find a study on the gospel of john word by word over 33 weeks and really the gospel of john and i've got to turn to to that now in my bible because we're going to reference some of it the gospel of john all the gospels have a very specific role and the gospel of john says behold the god man behold 100 man and 100 god and that's what he did and we unpacked that quite a bit throughout the gospel of john because it is everywhere so let's talk about the greatest mystery and and what packer wants us to do he wants us to focus that if we get the baby right that that baby was god who took on human flesh the rest of these these things are are not hard to believe or understand at all he says here's two mysteries for the price of one the plurality of persons within the unity of god and the union of the god head of course that's the trinity and manhood in the person of jesus it is here in the thing that happened at the first christmas that the profoundest and most unfathomable depths of christian revelation lie if you have your bible or something with your bible on it go to john 1 14 chapter 1 verse 14 god became man the word became flesh the divine son became a jew the almighty appeared on earth as a helpless human baby unable to do more than lie and stare and wiggle and make noises needing to be fed needing to be changed needing to be taught to talk like any other child and there was no illusion or deception in this the babyhood of the son of god was a reality and now the more you think about it the more staggering it gets nothing in fiction is so fantastic as is the truth of the incarnation this is a real stumbling block in christianity it is here that jews muslims uh you know that you're you know you you you you what they called the unitarians and the jehovah witnesses many of those who feel the difficulties concerning the virgin birth the miracles the atonement and the resurrection have come to grief it is from misbelief or at least inadequate belief about the incarnation that that that gives them difficulty and that gives them difficulty in all the other points in the gospel story but once the incarnation is grasped as a reality then all these other difficulties dissolve it's no big deal for 100 god to do the miracles that he did it's no big deal for 100 god to raise himself from the dead it's no big deal uh for 100 god to be born of a virgin so once we get that right it kind of it kind of changes a lot of that and then he goes into a second part who is this child the cruelty of the birth is important we love to land there hey they had to go into a manger and hey the baby had to be laid in a feeding trough there's nothing wrong with that the really only the most important thing though is that the baby being born in bethlehem fulfilled prophecy but but and that's that's that's where the location is important but but we get sometimes too hung up in the romanticizing the story and then we forget that the focus is the baby and the baby's identity because if you if you're not careful with that uh it just becomes this this incredible story of a of a you know a man who's taking on a woman uh as his wife who everybody thought had been unfaithful to him all that's important and hey they couldn't find any place at the end because nobody wanted some woman who's about to give birth to come into one of the rooms and mess the sheets up uh even if they had availability so they put them out in a and a stable really more like a cave where animals were all that is certainly fine but if you get caught up in all that and you miss the focus of the identity of the baby then you've missed it you know the shepherds weren't being told you won't believe this wonderful story about this man and this woman that have some baby out in the barn no angels don't appear to talk about a baby in the barn they appear to talk about god has become a man and this is now going to start the process for mankind to be at peace with a holy god and this is why the celebration up here in the sky with a multitude of angels is taking place not because of some romantic story about a baby that nobody would let be born inside a hotel it that's not the story the story is god has come to us and taken on human flesh the baby was god now this is important if you go to the gospel of john i i told you he says in the beginning was the word and the word was with god and the word was god he is the beginning with god this is in the gospel of john chapter 1 first few verses all things were made through him and without him was not anything made that was made in him was life and the life was the light of men the light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it we're talking about john does not say because this was believed in a lot of the pagan beliefs and some of the spiritual beliefs uh even in some of the jewish beliefs he was not a son of god that's really really important watch for that with some of these faults denominations and religions that pretend to be something and and if you hear them talking about well jesus was a son of god but i mean he has a brother or uh there's there's these other people or he was a prophet and did miracles with their other prophets no no the gospel of john makes it extremely clear and if we want to know god correctly jesus was not a son of god he was the son of god underline that he was the son of god uh the not a son the son the only begotten son let's go down to verse 14 and the word became flesh this is in the gospel of john chapter 1 and dwelt among us and we have seen his glory glory as of the only son from the father full of grace and truth praise god for that and he's talking about that he that john the baptist bore witness to him let's go down to 18. no one has ever seen god the only god who is at the father's side he has made him known i mean this is god of course we all we know what john 3 16 calls him not a begotten son the begotten son and we also know in chapter 3 not just in verse 16 that we all know pretty well but look at verse 18 as well whoever believes in him is not condemned but whoever does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only son of god period so so j.i packer is saying let's not just gloss over the story of the baby because it's big because once we get that right and we realize this there's not two gods this is not a lesser god this is god and john clarifies this that they might believe that jesus is the christ the son of god and that by believing have life in his name that's in john 20 31 we have life in his name john clarifies uh that throughout his entire gospel jesus is the god-man john 1 1-18 he lays all this out we've read parts of it he knows simply the son of god could be confused with other claims of sons of god and that's why john is saying let me clarify i'm not talking about sons of god i'm not talking about a son of god i'm talking about the son of god so remember this uh let's look at page of 56 if you've got the ji packer book if not just stay with me and we'll talk about some of the scriptures so there was there was no danger of being misunderstood when john is writing to the jewish people who understood the old testament because the old testament readers would pick up the reference at one god once about him saying he is he's the word and the word uh was with god and the word was god god's word in the old testament is the creative utterance his power in action fulfilling his purpose the old testament depicted god's utterance the actual statement of his purpose is having power in itself to the effect the thing purpose genesis 1 tells us how creation was done god said let there be and of course there was by the word of the lord the heavens were made uh you find this in psalms 33 verses 6 and 9 psalms 33 verse 6 and 9. by the word of the lord were the heavens made he spoke and it came to be the word of god is thus god at work john takes up this figure and proceeds to tell us seven things about the divine word so why that's why it's important john is using this analogy because he knows that most of the people he's talking to will get it you remember john is trying to convince these jewish people this is him this is messiah so the picking of of of the analogy of the word is is important to those that were hearing this that were already well versed with the old testament the the number one of the seven things about the divine word in the beginning was the word and this is john talking about this in in one one he here is the words eternity it has no beginning of its own when other things begin he was you remember when everybody went i mean everybody went crazy when he's talking to all these pharisees and he's talking to these men that know this and he says you know how did you know abraham you're you're you're not even you're not even uh you're you're not even 34 35 years old how do you know abraham and he looks at me and says before abraham i was and remember they just went crazy and they're like you can't say that well john's saying in the beginning was the word so first of all this analogy of the word is jesus has always been the son has always been there he is part of the triune god and he has been before the foundation of the earth number two and the word was with god we're still in in verse one of chapter one here it is the words personality the power that fulfills god's purposes is the power of a distinct personal being one who stands in an eternal relation to god of active fellowship that that's what this phrase means the word is eternal the word's personality is that it fellowships in in part of the triune god he and the father are one number three and the word was god so in the beginning uh was the word that's his eternity and the word was with god that's the personality and fellowship of of of jesus and the father and then he says and the word was god and here are the words uh hey it's it's deity jesus is god through the through i mean the personality may be distinct from the father but he has not been created by the father he is divine in himself as the father is this is a this is a mystery with and it confronts us and it's a mystery of personal distinctions within the unity of the godhead and i think that's where we all struggle sometimes they're equal but they're they're distinct personalities but they're one god adrian rogers i'll say it again he says if you try to completely comprehend the triune god and the trinity if you complete if you take your finite brain and you try to grab the the trinity in its fullness you may lose your mind but if you reject the trinity you will lose your salvation so so it's important and some of this we just accept that that that's it what does god also tell us my ways are not your ways my thoughts are not your thoughts unpacking the trinity is one of those places where i say well yes you are right lord you i can't comprehend everything about you but you know what i believe it to be true because i've seen the power of it in my own life number four about the word through him all things were made here the word is creating he was the father's agent in every act of making that the father has ever performed all that was made was made through him by the way this this that that's a biggie so first of all john says the word's eternal uh the the word is fellowshipping with the father the word is deity and the word was was was the agent that the father used to create everything he ever made number five and this is our big one this is a big one in him was life here the word is animating there is no physical life in the realm of created things except in him and through him here the bible answers to the problem of the origin and the continuance of life in all forms life is given and life is maintained by the word created things do not have life in themselves but life is in the word the second person of the godhead what does jesus say in john 14 6 i am the way i am the life i am the truth and no one comes to the father except through me and jesus is life in him all things exist life was literally breathed into to everything by god the father and his agent to do that was god the son number six and that life was the light of men we're in verse 4 now in these last two we went to verse number four was the first three number five and six are from verse four and the life was the light of men here the word is revealing it is giving life he gives light too that is to say all people receive imitations of god for uh um i mean i mean there you have an intimacy with god i should say not invitations from the very fact of being alive in god's world and this no less than the fact that they are alive is due to the work of the word so he's saying i he's also light he shines light into the darkness he illuminates um uh we we all uh can can can be part uh in fellowship with god because now the light illuminates the sin in our lives and then pays for the very sin in which it illuminates anybody taking notes my goodness i told you it was a deep dive today but it's important okay number seven and this is the part again back to the birth and this is in uh verse 14 the word became flesh number seven so the word became flesh here is the words incarnate the baby in the manger at bethlehem was none other than the eternal word of god number one the word is eternal number two the word has a personality and is with god and fellowships with god the father the word was god it has deity uh through him all things were made it was the agent of creation in him was life there is no life in anything without the word without jesus and and number six the word it was the light of men here it's revealing it it's giving life it gives light to all people were can come into an intimate relationship with god because of the illumination of the word in seven it became flesh it became 100 man it was god incarnate so now having shown us who and what the word is the divine person author of all things john indicates an identification the word he tells us was revealed by the incarnation to be god's son we have seen his glory the glory of the one and only who came from the father this is john talking again in verse 14 of chapter one the identification is confirmed in verse 18 as we said a minute ago the only begotten son which is in the bosom of the father that's the king james version really lays that down thus john establishes the point at which he was aiming throughout his entire gospel he's now made it clear what it what is meant by calling jesus the son of god the son of god is the word of god we see what the word is that is what the son is such is the message of the prologue of the gospel of john when therefore the bible proclaims jesus as the son of god the statement is meant as an assertion of his distinct personal deity and we got it so that's a lot to take in but it's only half the story uh and you're going rick and we're halfway there so uh if we can't get the rest of it in i'll finish next week so let's start on on the rest of the story uh and and this starts with this the baby born at bethlehem was was god made man the word had become flesh a real human baby but it had not ceased to be god he was no less god than before but but he had begun to be a man he was not now god minus some elements of his deity but god plus all that he had made his own by taking manhood to himself i mean let's think about that for a minute god who made man would now learn what it felt like to be a man you know he you know he who made an angel you know i hear people say this all to him well i just don't understand why god created the devil well he didn't god created lucifer he created an angel who became the devil and now god has decided even though he knows that lucifer has now become the accuser the tempter the devil he allowed himself to to to relate with us to take on human flesh and now that he's taken on human flesh this this same rebel that went against him that he created he's now allowing himself to be tempted by the accuser because that's that's us he knows we're out there so he takes on human flesh and allows himself to be tempted which really to me is mind-blowing this here's what uh the writer of hebrews said um in hebrews uh chapter two write this down 17-18 and then the writer of hebrews also talks about this in chapter 4 verses 15 and 16. so if you have your bible let's turn to that so in the book of hebrews the reason why this is so profound that this doesn't make you love god i don't know what will so here's a holy god that could have said y'all stand against me you're done there is a chasm between us now and you're finished but but he didn't he came to us when we could not come to him and in hebrews chapter 2 verses 17 and 18 listen to what he says therefore he had to be made like his brothers talking about the apostles in every respect so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of god because he will now pay what is due for the sins of the people for because he himself has suffered when tempted he is able to help those who are being tempted so so there's nothing that you now this is this is the great i am this is the beginning and the end and he decides that he will take on human flesh where now me a human being who's also flesh and spirit but my spirit had to be redeemed because i am full of sin but then you know what i go to jesus i say jesus you don't know what i'm going through you know what he says oh yes i do i know exactly what you're going through i know what it's like to be tempted i took on human flesh so i could so i would relate to to humanity that i created but i took on human flesh i mean it goes back to paul harvey i'll never forget the the story of the man and the birds this was this daddy that wouldn't go to church with his family and i'll do a quick version of it because i used to play it when i first started out in am radio playing paul harvey and the rest of the story and then every and every christmas paul harvey would do the man and the birds and paul harvey would say this man could not believe that god would be a man and it drove him crazy he thought his family was crazy for believing something so so he thought it was lunacy they're going to church on christmas eve he won't go it's cold outside it's going to freeze there's snow on the ground and and and he he looks outside after they've gone to church and they would walk to church it was in just an old country town and he's at the house and he looks outside and he sees uh that that one that that it's going to freeze this night and they had uh their dog put inside i mean these birds that they had inside the barn and he said he looks out and the birds have gotten out and they're flopping around out in the snow and he goes out there to try to help them and he every time he tried to help him they would scatter and run everywhere and all he's trying to do is get them in the barn to keep them warm so they won't freeze to death because because now they're on the ground and they had fallen out of the nest and all of a sudden the man standing out there and he says my goodness i wish i could just be a bird if i could be a bird i could lead them to where they need to go and he said it clicked with him and he heard off in the distance the church bails and he thought well that's why god became a man so so we can't say you can't relate to us we don't you don't understand no i know exactly what it is and now i can become uh 100 god and 100 man where i can show you how to be a man and i can lead you to safety when i go and pay pay the price for you on the cross somebody say amen to that so so anyway um this is let's look at the next one in chapter 4 of hebrews and let's look at 15 and 16 chapter 4 of hebrews in 15 and 16 for we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are yet he is without sin let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in our time of need isn't that great isn't that great so the second thing that we want to think about and before we before we wrap up today and we may make it it's going to be close is um is that when we look at the incarnation we think to ourselves god came here and he took on this human flesh to die he he was born to die how are we to think of this incarnation he who had always been god by nature writes paul did not cling to his privileges as god's equal but stripped himself of every advantage by consenting to be a slave by nature and being born a man and plainly seen as a human being he humbled himself by living a life of utter obedience to the point of death and the death he died was a death of a common criminal even on a cross and all this was for our salvation write this down that's a beautiful beautiful writing from the apostle paul from the book of philippians chapter 2 verses 6 through 8. and i remember the first time i saw that read that when i first started my started being discipled and being sanctified i didn't understand it but what paul was saying is he he is equal with god so he could have claimed equality with god and said i'm not going down there and taking on human flesh i'm equal i'm part of the triune god but he stripped himself of of of of his his ability and came down i mean he had every right to say i'm not i'm god but he stripped himself of that and he humbled himself by living a life of utter obedience as a human being and at the same time god and here goes god who is holy and flawless and he he he humbled himself to the nastiness of being crucified the way they would crucify a common criminal on the cross all because the debt would be paid for you and me it was all for salvation there have been some theologians who have sometimes toyed with the idea that the incarnation was originally and basically intended for the perfecting of the created order and that its redemptive significance was so to speak god's afterthought but that that will not stand up this is the canosa's theory this will not step up stand up against scrutiny of the scriptures as james denney rightly insisted the new testament knows nothing of an incarnation which can be defined apart from the realization to atonement to the relation to the atonement not bethlehem but calvary is the focus of revelation and any construction of christianity which ignores or denies this distorts christianity by putting it out of focus this is from the book that he wrote called the death of christ in 1902 so the key text in the new testament for in interpreting the incarnation is not therefore a bear statement in john 1 14 the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us rather the more comprehensive statement of second corinthians 8 9. write that down second corinthians 8 9 where paul says you know the grace of our lord jesus christ that though he was rich yet for your sake he became poor so that through his poverty might become rich here is stated not the fact of incarnation only but also its meaning that the taking of manhood by the sun is set before us in a way which shows us how we should ever view it not simply as a marvel of nature meaning this was a miracle that god became a man but rather and this is good underline this not a marvel miracle that god became a man to truly understand why god did this is a wonder of grace not a marvel but a wonder of grace and so we go on to discuss this um uh you know where people start thinking that um there's something that that happened uh that that somehow god became less than god in order uh to pull this off and and um paul destroys this whole canosis theory that he was somehow less god when he says that he did empty himself of of deity but not of the divine glory and dignity he had before the world began so so he did empty himself at times we see this about becoming poor and and not claiming what he actually was but giving up some of the things that he had been given uh but but he became poor uh in order to humble himself to do what needs to be done and and yes uh he was he was he was still 100 god and and but at the same time he did give up his glory and he did give up his dignity but he did not empty himself of his deity but his dignity and his glory yes he did not his deity but his dignity and his glory he did and one thing i think that we should all take away from this is that we should have the same attitude i i think sometimes some of us some people don't come to know christ because we're not willing to get our hands dirty i mean i will say this and i've been as guilty of it as anyone because we live in our standard of living where we live is so high sometimes the easiest thing for an american christian to do is simply write a check hey here's my check can uh i don't want to get dirty i don't want to go to some place that stinks uh drug addicts i don't know about going down there oh they got they have homeless people they're taking care of can i just send a check and somebody else deal with that well see that's not the attitude that our lord and savior took at all he said i will not give up my deity because i must be the i must pay what's due for sin by being 100 man and 100 god but paul says he did empty himself of his glory and his dignity to lower himself i mean the king of kings and the lord of lords now has nowhere to sleep and he did this to come to us when we could not come to him in fact the gospel narratives present evidence against the canoe the kenosis theory it's true that jesus knowledge of things both human and divine was sometimes limited we did see this but he's not giving up deity he asked occasionally for information who touched my clothes how many loaves do you have we find this in the gospels mark 30 talks about this in chapter 5 and also mark 6 and 38 he declares that he shares the ignorance of the angels as as to the day appointed for his return we see this in matthew 24 we see mark 13 where jesus says i don't know only the father knows so you do see him limiting his his glory at times not his deity because he'll turn right around at other times and display supernatural knowledge he knows the samaritan woman's shady past in john 4 17 18. how does he know that he knows that when peter goes fishing the first fish that he catches is going to have a coin in his mouth matthew 17 27 he knows without being told that lazarus is dead we did this in the gospel of john chapter 11 verse 11 through 13. and from time to time he displays supernatural power in miracles of healing feeding resurrecting the dead the impression of jesus which the gospels give is not that he was somehow gave up his deity or that he couldn't have access to the knowledge and the power but he drew on it intermediately when he needed it sometimes he would he would deny himself the ability to to know the answer to a question but then he turned right around when he needed it he'd go get it and know everything he just knew the time to do it and the time not to do it so the impression in other words is not so much one of his deity has been reduced but that his divine i love this his defined divine capacities restrained i can do whatever i can access that 100 god anytime i want to but at times i'm going to access the 100 mankind i'm going to be 100 man and 100 god and i alone will decide which way i go and when i go that way i'm totally in charge but i'm both i didn't give up any deity goodbye there you and your little kenosis theory that's not going to happen but you know what my divine capacities are restrained and sometimes i turn them down sometimes i turn them up jesus again completely in control so he did become poor uh if you this is in the chat this is in page 63 so we see now what it's meant for the son of god to empty himself and become poor it meant laying aside of his glory a voluntary restraint of power an acceptance of hardship isolation ill treatment malice and misunderstanding and then finally a death that involves such agony spiritual even more than physical that his mind nearly broke under the prospect of it and you see this in luke 12 verse 50 the gethsemane story in the garden of gethsemane we things got a little dicey there things get a little dicey there here is jesus and that 100 god uh is is going it knows that it's time to go to the cross but that 100 man is in agony you know they the medical doctors will tell you that you can be under so much agony and so much duress that the capillaries in your forehead really can burst and they really can bleed and and we knew this was going on and we know that the son of god asked his father if there was any other way so you see once again uh this is that battle and he's he's vacillating between these two human beings versus versus god and we look at at verse 50 and uh and and we and we see that that uh he's asking the father is there any other way and when he heard nothing from the father he said not my will lord father but your will be done and that's something again that that he has taught us to do in the same thing the gospel of john i was just looking at that remember he said hey my time is coming and my heart is troubled but why am i troubled this is the whole reason why i came there it is again i'm obedient to my father uh i know that i'm going to raise myself from the dead i even tell pilate that no one can take my life from me but here's that human flesh and my human flesh is saying this is about to be an agonizing death and i'm beginning to ask the father is there any other way to do it and of course i love how it was presented uh in luke if you have your bible go to verse 50 verse 50 i have a i have a baptism to be baptized with and how great is my distress until it is accomplished how great is my distress until it is being accomplished but he did not leave us he did not leave us he did finish what he was here to do so we have to take on the same attitude that jesus took on for us is that no matter what the situation may be ultimately what we should say following jesus's example is not my will be done lord but your will be done that you have called us to go make disciples you've called us to be sanctified and you've called us to difficulty uh those of you that are listening to this live or maybe you're watching it live um on january the 19th that was the day that sherry and i uh had our youngest son drown and our our pool and and and have to be rushed to the children's hospital emergency room as they would attempt to resuscitate him after he drowned and those you that know the story it ties quite beautifully to what we're talking about today because my wife had that very moment where she is praying that our son is going to be resuscitated the doctors are working on him and they're working on him and there's agony because you begin to think to yourself and you may have your own things like this in your life father if your will is this i don't know that i want to do that if your will is is this with what you're going to be done father i don't know that i want to do that and and we begin to ask sometimes just in this case is there a way out of this couldn't you glorify yourself father couldn't you glorify yourself by my our son being resuscitated right now and we could go tell everybody about the miracle of you bringing our son who drowned in the pool you brought him back to life it wasn't too late and we could even talk about we medically they didn't think that could be done but you did it and couldn't there be glory in that certainly but as sherry began to pray she said that she sensed in her spirit that something else was going to be prayed that she couldn't pray and and that prayer that came out from the holy spirit romans chapter 8 sometimes the spirit prays what we ought to be praying she said she could not believe she heard her voice saying not my will be done lord but your will be done and who did she learn that from the god man 100 god could have walked away from the situation but but if he walks away from the situation then we're doomed because he was the only one that could pay the debt that was due in full that's why he said from the cross to telesty that that they documented that when they wrote it in greek to telestyle paid in full and then jesus taught us all in our times of agony to say not our will be done lord but your will be done no matter what agony that may bring if it saves the lives of the lost i can tell you as i sit here 13 years after the earthly death of our youngest son is that the only struggle that sherry and i have ever had no was it the only one we'd ever had before that day no was it was it shocking was it calamity yes have we faced difficult things and continue to face difficult things in this falling creation yes can i see that things were accomplished by god not stepping in and saving the earthly life of our two and a half year old son oh yeah including the very doctor that was working on him who was lost who would go on i would find out a few years later after all the things he watched through my wife and when i arrived and had a chance to talk to him as well when he watched what was going on in the lives of disciples of jesus and it was only the power of jesus because sherry and i were laid low they had nothing to happen with that it was anything but god because we were incapable of doing it ourselves see the god man knew how it felt to feel like we felt but he also is god so he can redeem it he'd use it the very doctor that was hearing all this we met his parents a few years later and then she and his parents told us my son became a christian after that he realized he was not a christian he saw things going on in the death of that little boy and the response of this family and this couple that knew that god was real he watched it he saw it the memorial service we didn't even know what youtube was we had no idea what youtube was i'd never really even heard of it broner was born the year that youtube was made and two and a half years later we had a friend working here doing the job that adler does now and he decided he would go and get the memorial service and record it for us to have forever and god began to speak and god began to move and and in those days you could you could only put 10 minutes in a video and he put three 10-minute segments out on something called youtube and for that week it was the number one most viewed video in the world you think that there have been other funerals that have been recorded why was that a video that drew people in whether you like it or not it breaks our heart when somebody buries their mom or their grandparent it is heartbreaking but if they're 80 years old and 90 years old even 70 something years old you it breaks your heart but there's nothing that breaks your heart quite like the death of a two and a half year old little boy and somebody's saying is this his dad yeah it says dad which they didn't know i was supposed to get up and thank everybody and step down and let the pastor speak but god began to move i don't recall anything that happened after me greeting everybody and thanking everybody and addressing my family the rest of it i didn't remember at all and i remember watching it like eight weeks later sitting in my office watching it going what is this over 200 people gave their life to christ at the service there are people that text me yesterday that said it changed my life god changed me and i want you to know i've never faded and i'm i've never been the same from that day this beard that i have i grew it after that because i realized that this this would be a different rick burgess from 2008 on am i the rick burgess that i need to be no am i the rick burgess i was before 2008 no is god radically changing me yes is that process continuing yes the more that i have been refined because you know why because of that pain and suffering and that agony that the god-man completely understood i was so dependent on god that he's so powerful that i finally died now does old rick try to find his way that flesh keep fighting for its life on this side of heaven yes do i lose to the flesh as much as i used to no am i perfect sadly no am i progressing yes not because of a new code of conduct or my newfound self-control because of the power of the god-man the power of god coming to me when i could not come to him and then giving me access to the father son and the holy spirit not just to know about them but to know them let's pray lord thank you for this time thank you for i can man i can sense your spirit moving lord i know there's people whose hearts have been pierced by us digging in to god incarnate and what you did for us you know once that once you figure this out these other things you did are not hard to believe at all thank you for defeating our sin lord thank you for defeating death thank you for the promise that you are making all things new and lord thank you for for coming and taking on flesh to understand what it's like to be us but the same same time showing us an example as the new adam and this example is perfection and redemption and that you can make us all fully righteous not partially righteous fully righteous if you're watching this or listen this would you like right now to give your life to jesus and say i understand now what you did and i would like for you to forgive me lord i want that gift that you provided for me i'm repenting of my sin i'm turning for my sin and i'm turning to you lord jesus will you please save me i know that you love me i hear this story will you teach me to love you lord i want to know you but i can't know you until i've been redeemed and today i want you to redeem me i repent of my sins and i confess you as my now my lord i belong to you i believe that your father rose you from the dead on the third day and i publicly proclaimed that i'm now a follower of you jesus just change me i can't change me but you can teach me lord to become more like you but today is the step that i take because i understand what you did for me and i'm and i'm grateful and i turn from my sin and i turn to you and ask you to forgive me and save me if you've done that for the first time or maybe the first time that you ever meant it the bible tells us the sincerity of your heart the power of jesus has saved you bible study didn't save you the prayer didn't save you but the sincerity of your heart and your repentance and the power of jesus saved you if i can help you now to be a follower of jesus and take that next step or anything that's on your mind after today you can reach me rick rick and bubba dot com i'm honored that you would take the time to be with us and may god be glorified because i promise you no matter what we're going through god reigns thanks for being with us you

Channel: Rick & Bubba

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Keywords: rick, bubba, rick and bubba, rick & bubba, rick bubba live, rick and bubba live, rick & bubba live, rick and bubba show, rick & bubba show, rick bubba show, burgess, bussey, radio, alabama, bible study, bible study for men, men's bible study, biden, we be big, mens bible study, trump supporters, capitol, capitol building, dc, washington

Id: sT9SY8iHyHo

Length: 58min 53sec (3533 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 20 2021